The shock which was to close the 10th day of Ligue 1, Sunday, was canceled following the stone crushing of the Olympique Lyonnais bus.
This is a new distressing episode in the series of incidents which have punctuated the French Ligue 1 championship for two years now. The clash of the 10th day, which was to see Olympique de Marseille and Olympique Lyonnais face each other at the Vélodrome stadium, Sunday October 29, was canceled due to the stone crushing of the Lyon bus, during which coach Fabio Grosso and his deputy Raffaele Longo suffered facial injuries, requiring 12 stitches for the former.
“Blood was seen coming from Grosso’s headexplained John Textor, the president of OL, on Prime Video after the announcement of the cancellation of the match. These are shocking scenes, it was not good. I couldn’t have a conversation with him, he had an injury. This is not how football should be played.” His Marseille counterpart, Pablo Longoria, presented himself a few minutes later in the mixed zone for a first reaction.
“First of all, my first thought goes to Fabio Grosso, who is a person I respect, who I have known for a long time. I went to see him when I arrived at the stadium.”indicated the president of OM, before continuing: “For a group of unconscious people to ruin a football party, with 65,000 people, is completely unacceptable. I’m angry, I’m disgusted, this is an unacceptable situation. Even if it’s outside the stadium, even if it’s on the public highway, it has no place either in football or in today’s society. We can’t accept this.”
A position shared by Frédérique Camilleri. The police chief of Bouches-du-Rhône, a stakeholder in the crisis unit which took the decision to cancel the meeting, spoke in the mixed zone: “If the match did not take place, it is not the fault of the OL or OM supporters who participated, for the first time, in the match organization meeting. It’s the fault of some idiots, a handful of unconscious people.”
Dejan Lovren appeals to the government
These events obviously had an impact on the Lyon players, including Dejan Lovren, who was present in the locker room and who published a message on X (ex-Twitter) after the match: “What happened to us tonight, for our coach and for us, was beyond measure. I respect true fans around the world, but today’s fans were not among them.”
The Croatian OL defender, who went to greet the Lyon supporters alongside his coach and other players on the squad, assures that “these people came with the firm intention of causing serious injury. It has nothing to do with football anymore. If the law is not changed, one day it will be too late. The government must do something.”
Amélie Oudéa-Castéra, the Minister of Sports, reacted on X: “The images of the stoned OL buses and their supporters, and those of Fabio Grosso’s bloodied face are revolting. These unacceptable acts deny the very values of football and sport and their perpetrators must all be found and severely punished.”
“An investigation will take place to very precisely establish the chain of responsibility”she continued on franceinfo, before asserting that “seven first suspects have already been arrested.L The perpetrators must all be found and severely punished.” OL and OM will file a complaint in the coming days and have announced that they will comply with the decisions of the League in order to find a new date to play the match.